As the drummer, how do you choose to play or program percussion in the studio? Does the song do the dictating??

Miles Doughty and Kyle McDonald are the primary songwriters. When they have an idea or direction we try to stay true to that. If its more hip hop style we try to incorporate a drum machine. There are other songs that definitely need live drums, a more human element. It?s typically dictated by the song more than anything.

The band started in high school. How quickly did it progress from a good time to something serious??

Miles and Kyle started the band in the early 90?s. It was about fun and playing house parties and having good time. Once the guys started seeing things grow and started making a little bit of money, they saw there was more to this than having fun and playing weekends. (It was) we can do this. From that point the guys started taking it seriously from an early age.

How did Bradley Nowell affect the band??

He was good friends of Miles and Kyle. Obviously in the early years he was a huge influence. The guy spoke music and he was a friend. They were good friends before well before Sublime was a household name like it is now. I know he absolutely had a huge effect on the guys and signed them to their first independent record label deal with Skunk Records. They had just started that label and there?s no doubt he was a huge influence on the band.

You have your own studio. Does it benefit the band differently versus going to a strange place or city to record??

That was really a blessing for us. We?d been going into different studios, paying a thousand dollars a day, sometimes more, done work in Texas and L.A. and other big studios. There?s this sort of unspoken pressure where you have all this money going out every day for two or three weeks to get everything together.

?Top of the World? was recorded there.?

We decided to take our time, there was no pressure of a thousand dollars a day and getting all this stuff done. It was a little more relaxed and also allowed for things to flower in different ways. It would be different combinations of guys. Sometimes we?d have the whole band there. Some days we have two or there guys, two or three different guys the next day. There were different layers of development. You had songs where there was a drum, bass and guitar group. The next day the horn guys would come in and play a part.

?Top of the World? has guest musicians – Angelo Moore, Ian Neville, G Love. Was making it a backyard party with friends and family??

It was a lot of fun to make. There is a lot variety musically. With each song style we have a couple different guys. Obviously Fishbone is a huge influence. It made sense for Angelo Moore to come in and guest and do his vocal thing. He just killed that song. We?ve been friends with G. Love and toured with him for years. He had this groovy, loose kind of thing. He came in and killed it. Each song dictated what we had in mind.

[…] signing Bradley Nowell’s (Sublime) record label but has maintained a steady climb ever since. The band’s fun music grew out of forming in high school in California and has evolved from just good time party […]

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The WAE: Wilmington-area Arts & Entertainment is dedicated to experiencing, discussing and promoting the arts in Southeastern N.C. From theater and all manner of music to visual art, dance, festivals and more, The WAE is populated by people who are immersed in local A&E. If it’s about A&E in Southeastern N.C., then we’re all about it.